Im thinking of buying some whey protein to take post ‘hard workout’. Does it really help with muscle repair and soreness?? You see, the older I get, the harder it is to recover from a really tough session.
Im only intending to use it after a workout for a quick intake. The rest will be from a natural diet.
1 Like
The studies and experts say that it does make a difference (CHO:PRO 4:1 or 3:1 in the case of Hammer Nutrition). For me pushing the five decade barrier, I have found that I don’t have near the soreness as when I have not (FWIW) over the past several months. What I do is a scoop of Hammer Nutrition HEED and a tablespoon of Bob’s Red Mill Whey Protein in 16 ounces of water - I may change this up but for right now it works. There is Recoverite from Hammer but my concoction seems to work just fine.
At other times during the day, I’m a little different in that I generally have a pure whey protein shake once or twice daily, in addition to post ride, to help get my grams in for the day.
1 Like
Evidence is pointing towards us older althletes benefitting from higher amounts of protein intake.
My opinion is that It doesn’t matter where you get it from, as long as you’re getting it
6 Likes
I’m also in my 50’s and I have definitely noticed my recovery between workouts increase.
Your body can only absorb around 30 Grams of protein per meal so I have a 30 gram shake in the morning, a 30 gram shake post workout and the rest of my protein comes from food. (90 grams a day)
Also, a strong post workout stretching regiment will help with muscle recovery. I feel that stretching is equally important as the protein shakes.
4 Likes
This is not true. There is not a hard upper limit for how much protein your body can process in a meal. Eat as much as you feel is appropriate.
6 Likes
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the clarification.
How do I measure what “feels” appropriate?
I’m not quite sure what you mean.
2 Likes
Eat to satiety or your goals essentially. E.g. if you want more than 30 grams of protein in a meal because you are hungry or have a specific type of meal that has more protein in it, go for it.
3 Likes
No. I feel protein is overrated in the context of quantity. I’ve heard as much as 2g/lb of body weight which is unnecessary, I personally aim for anywhere between 0.8-1.5g/lb of LBM which puts me between 110-180g per day which is very easily attainable through non-supplements. Having said that I’m quite fond of chucking in a scoop or two of peanut butter flavour with ice, full cream milk and a banana into the NutriBullet
1 Like
There is definitely a muscle tissue sparing effect of eating enough protein which can be very helpful for endurance athletes, but I agree that most recommendations are wrong.
1.6-2g per kg of LBM (body weight - bone - body fat) is a general guideline for athletes during moderate training. Example: I’m 156+15% body fat with 7 pounds of bone, so my LBM would be 126lbs/57kg. So I usually shoot for more than 105g of protein if I am running a normal diet.
If I am on a calorie restricted diet, that recommendation moves up to 2.3g/kg, so I shoot for 130g. Not significantly more than normal, and definitely reachable with a normal diet.
5 Likes
What I can tell you anecdotally is that with a high amount of protein (up to 1,6g / kg) helps to loose no or only a little muscle mass while optimising your body composition.
If I got less tired legs eg I can’t tell. That could be a stressful/stressless day, how I slept and so on. The only „metric“ I trust is if I couldn’t finish a workout. If there where just heavy legs, well, that’s part of the game sometimes.
3 Likes
I think all of the comments about getting enough protein are spot on. For the OP, please keep in mind that whey protein isn’t some magic substance. It’s literally just protein. Protein powder is a great option if you aren’t getting enough protein through your normal diet. There’s probably an argument to be made that getting most/all of your protein from lean meats/nuts is optimal.
2 Likes
I think it works. I just read an article Best Whey Protein : Top 20 Best Protein Powder for Men and Women who claims it works for muscle gain as well as losing fat.
Dont know if its true
1 Like
Enough protein is essential as you get older, helps against sarcopenia. Recommended amount is min 1.2g per kg lean body mass taken earlier in the day.
The problem with protein powder is the garbage-added chemicals and fillers. I think it was optimum nutrition who got nailed for saying its powder had 25 grams of protein per serving, but had far less. Stick to whole food if you can
1 Like
I think this should be the first comment whenever supplements are brought up, eat whole foods and then see where your deficiencies are. Too many people eat like crap, then supplement and wonder why they dont see any results.
Also do research on your supplements. labdoor.com does pretty thorough analysis of stuff and will save you from buying gimmicky supplements which have outrageous claims. Most of the time you just need the base stuff.
4 Likes
I add whey powder to make protein pancakes, add some greek yogurt and fresh fruit for a post ride breakfast.
As I’m 52 a relative heavy training load means nutrition and recovery are fundamental to extract all the benefit from the prescribed work outs.
I also subscribe to the view of having good quality calories in but when you add the required calories to sustain your training load that translates to a significant intake of food. A recovery drink can be beneficial, for nutrients and a easy fix for calorie intake.
I had read that some whey proteins can contain higher levels of heavy metals such as cadmium, etc. A while back I switched to plant-based protein thinking this was a safer option. However, I just did some quick research and discovered that the plant-based products, and especially the “organic” ones, score substantially worse for this sort of contamination than the whey proteins.
This is an interesting revelation to me and not what I’d have expected.
http://staging-cleanlabelproject.kinsta.com/product_category/protein-powder/
1 Like
Thanks, I was looking at switching over as well. I’ll hold off so.
It’s not magic, it just has a a lot of leucine, and that’s what you want if you’re trying to build muscle. (It’s particularly handy for people who have or had a menstrual cycle, since our protein requirements for recovery after exercise are higher.)
1 Like
As an older athlete I definitely recover quicker from a hard workout when I take a recovery drink containing protein directly after a workout. I appreciate it can be gained naturally but I prefer the ease of using a prepared solution
I use SIS REGO 20g protein, 23g carbs
3 Likes